Racial Discrimination against Minority Healthcare Workers in Women’s Health

The women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare sector, one of the largest employers delivering services globally, does not always commit to equality, diversity, and inclusion. There is objective, published evidence that not only care provision but also workforce treatment permits inequality and discrimination. The black and ethnic minority workforce in the women’s health specialty, compared to their white counterparts, is often treated unfavorably in appointments, is less often afforded academic development opportunities, is, at many sites, subjected to disproportionately greater disciplinary penalties, tends not have representation in positions of authority, and undertakes training in what is often perceived as a climate of fear due to racism. This problem deserves immediate action by professional bodies. They have the responsibility to remove feelings of exclusion and lack of belonging to all staff, the negative impact on wellbeing caused by unnecessary stress, and concerns over career progression among minority ethnic healthcare workforce and other workers who report discrimination. This duty is part of the societal responsibility to ensure fairness and eradicate discrimination under the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda.

Addressing mental health issues among migrant and refugee pregnant women: A call for action

Migrant and refugee pregnant women constitute a highly vulnerable group to mental disorders. The rates of mental illness of migrants and refugees are higher than those of host populations, with migrant women being more likely to suffer from prenatal depression. A Policy Paper was developed based on a literature review conducted in Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar. Filtering criteria were: year of publication (2002–2017), study topic relevance, and English language. A total of 63 documents were identified. Most of the documents were scientific papers while a large number of documents were reports of EU committees and networks on migrant issues or annual reports of international bodies. From the analysis of existing evidence, four major topics emerged for the perinatal health of migrant women: 1) Prevalence and risk factors for antenatal mental disorders, 2) Assessment of mental disorders, 3) Healthcare professionals’ training on supporting migrant and refugee pregnant women, and 4) Interventions for the mental health of migrant women. Midwives and other members of interdisciplinary teams have to be trained and culturally competent to successfully meet the needs of migrant and refugee pregnant women.

Iraqi Nurses' Perspectives on Safety Issues in Maternity Services

Background:

Studies introduce maternal and neonatal safety phenomena as important challenges to the public health, particularly in low-income countries. However, few researches are conducted on the identification of safety issues in maternity hospitals in Iraq. It was the first study on nurses’ perspectives on safety issues in Kurdistan, Iraq.

Objectives:

The current study aimed to describe nurses’ perspectives on what constitutes a safe maternity service in Kurdistan, Iraq.

Patients and Methods:

A qualitative design, based on a content analysis approach, was used. Ten Kurdish nurses who worked in the delivery room of Kurdistan, Iraq maternity hospital were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were performed to collect data. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Sampling continued to the level of data saturation. Data analysis was performed based on the steps suggested by Graneheim and Lundman.

Results:

Thematic analysis led to the identification of six main categories including stressful job, lack of schedule and job description, providing care with limited resources, professional unaccountability, regional sociopolitical factors, and inadequate training.

Conclusions:

Iraqi nurses identified factors such as limited health resources, lack of job description, and professional unaccountability as major safety issues in maternity services. These findings alarm the need to ensure the provision of females and neonates with appropriate care. This, however, would require coordination between Iraqi Kurdistan health authorities to provide midwifery care facilities, high-quality and relevant staff training, and an effective healthcare system in the maternity units.

Meeting the health and social care needs of pregnant asylum seekers; midwifery students' perspectives: part 3; "the pregnant woman within the global context"; an inclusive model for midwifery education to address the needs of asylum seeking women in the UK

AIM

to describe the conceptualisation and development of an inclusive educational model. The model is designed to facilitate pre-registration midwifery students' learning around the health and social care needs of pregnant women seeking asylum in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND

current literature has identified a concern about the standard of maternity care experienced by asylum seeking women accessing maternity services in the United Kingdom. In response to this, a doctorate study was undertaken which focused on examining the way in which a group of midwifery students approached the provision of care for asylum seekers. This study revealed difficulties that these students had both in identifying these women's needs and also in the wider care issues in practice. Consequently, one of the recommendations was to ameliorate these difficulties through midwifery education.

METHODS

the key findings from this study were used together with relevant supporting literature to construct "the pregnant woman within the global context" model for midwifery education.

RESULTS

The model is designed to facilitate a holistic assessment of need rather than focusing on the physical assessment at the expense of other aspects of care. It incorporates wider factors, on a global level, which could impact on the health and social care needs of a pregnant woman seeking asylum. It also prompts students to consider the influence of dominant discourses on perceptions of asylum seek;ing and is designed to encourage students' to question these discourses.

RECOMMENDATIONS

this model can be used in midwifery education to prepare students in caring for pregnant women seeking asylum. It may be especially helpful when students have close contact with pregnant women seeking asylum, for example through caseloading. Further research is recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of this model in enhancing the care of asylum seeking women in the United Kingdom.